Hello everybody!

I hope you all enjoyed your adventures out on the ocean with us today, because we surely did! It was a day with some very remarkable sightings and behaviors…

First off, divided over the morning and afternoon tours, we sighted Common dolphins, Bottlenose dolphins and Atlantic Spotted dolphins. They are all unique, but on this blog we will focus a bit more on 2 of our special sightings:

1) Risso’s dolphins. Today they were extremely active, sweeping their fins and tails around as if they were in a battle. At least one individual would not stop jumping out high, and this is not something usual for a Risso’s dolphin at all. I predict that some kind of mating dance/ ritual was going on, and they were trying to fight over the females. Males also bite each other to get more scars, when attracting females, as white is known to be an attractive color for females.

 

2) Blainville’s beaked whales. Beaked whales belong to a family of animals of which at least 6 species we are able to see in the Azores from time to time. However, they are generally a pretty rare sighting and if we do see them, its not often to be the Blainville’s! They came very close to the boat this afternoon, showing some on their fang teeth, which indicates that at least 1 was a male.

Blainville’s beaked whale – Mesoplodon densirostris

See, each day new surprises are waiting for you and us, and we can never predict how the next day will be. If you want to figure out what it’s like to be out there, join us! 🙂

Milou

About Milou

Milou is Marine Biologist, and was Marine Wildlife Guide at TERRA AZUL from 2010 to 2019. She is from Holland, and is passionate about being out in the ocean with wildlife, informing visitors, and collecting field imagery and data for local Cetaceans and Sea Turtles Research & Conservation projects.

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